The silliness of this statement can be illustrated by replacing abortion with another moral-cum-political issue where Dr Abrams presumably takes a less libertarian view. Would he accept, for example, that the slavery debate of 200 years ago was about...

JOHN MITCHELL Hertford

TONY DAVIE St Andrews, Fife

Cook can be a difficult and prickly man at the best of times; and these are not the best of times, given the personal pressures caused by the break-up of his marriage. Although his relations with most officials have been significantly better than por...

Why not legislate for industrial rates to be raised on all unused urban land? Those great forgotten tracts will become a liability for their owners and will come on to the market at realistic prices. MARY BANNERMAN Bristol

L R McILMOYLE Newcastle upon Tyne

There is a wonderful casualness about this assertion which reveals the confidence with which it was written. It transcends the possibility of contradiction, because this is something that we all know; it is incontestable, forming a backdrop to everyt...

The Oxford company provides tours of our city, having re-engineered the rickshaw to include 21 gears, hydraulic disc brakes and halogen lights The elderly share a cause with the disabled, shoppers, and adults in charge of small children. Rickshaws mu...

The Bloody Sunday killings still matter, above all, because they underpin so much of the sense of grievance which sustains republican terrorism. The events of this day in 1972 were critical in changing perceptions of the British Army among nationalis...

Well, as I live a hundred miles or more from London, it's unlikely that I will make the trek to the capital and see the new darlings of the West End. Luckily, I don't really have to. I have seen The Right Size already. I saw them at the Edinburgh Fes...

It is deeply disappointing that throughout the long dispute the leadership of the TGWU have offered no active support, other than financial contributions from the hardship fund. The Labour government, despite containing MPs and ministers with TGWU li...

Pressure groups have argued that the export credit guarantee scheme, which underwrites these arms orders, only encourages oppressive regimes, such as Indonesia, to buy weaponry beyond their means and actually to increase their military spending. Oppr...

That is not to say people watching ER or Fargo are somehow being falsely entertained; there is no cultural rule that says we should be more excited by Jean de Florette or Lucie Aubrac because France is closer to hand. But we must not let the prevalen...

"Boring" is a word my 11-year-old uses about any subject outside his immediate range of interest. I normally respond by telling him that as he grows older and understands more, then the world around him will appear increasingly interesting and releva...

The idea that this could be a non-party campaign is fast fading. There will probably be a Labour and Tory primary - (there'll be an outcry if either party tries an inside fix). That will leave just one candidate each, with the others banned from runn...

Seeking intellectual stimulation, I fled to talk to Graham Robb, the talented young author of the life of Victor Hugo which win the Biography prize. No trace of politico-sexual shenanigans about that life, I trust. Only honest creative endeavour, tir...